


You did that on purpose

by Puppet_in_the_Corner



Series: You did that on Purpose [1]
Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Gen, M/M, Schmoop, The one where they're dogs, alternatively titled 'my dad and his boyfriend are actually assholes', and a cat, this is not weird i promise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-13
Updated: 2013-11-13
Packaged: 2018-01-01 08:24:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1042558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Puppet_in_the_Corner/pseuds/Puppet_in_the_Corner
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The one where they’re Mako’s dogs. This is not a euphemism; she has two dogs named Raleigh and Yancy. That they happened to be named after two cadets her father once knew is only slightly important.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You did that on purpose

**Author's Note:**

> PRETTY MUCH ENTIRELY INSPIRED BY  
> [THIS](http://happyasaghost.tumblr.com/post/66764489164)
> 
> AND 
> 
> [THIS](http://happyasaghost.tumblr.com/post/66497983000)
> 
> OKAY THAT’S MY STORY AND I’M STICKING WITH IT

Mako doesn’t mean to keep the pitiful, sniffling ginger kitten she brings home. It’s small, runtish and sopping wet, mewling sadly from the confines of her jacket as she locks the door to her apartment. A curious pair of eyes watch her from the kitchen, head tilted sideways and tongue lolling out.

 

“I hope you don’t mind a temporary roommate.” She muses to herself, ignoring the high pitched whine and curious sniffing. From where she’s heading, rushing over to the bathroom to grab a fresh towel to dry off the crying kitten in her arms, she can see a white tail poke out from over the couch.

 

The kitten cries louder, bolstering her movements, and she pulls out a towel while grabbing another one to toss in the dryer for a few minutes.

 

It takes a little bit, the kitten making sad sounds that pierce her heart like a spear while also struggling a bit, but he’s (after some careful checking) finally dried off. Not necessarily content, she sees, watching him eye her suspiciously, but after wrapping him in a now warm towel, a tiny purring sound escapes him.

 

Just then, a wet, black nose pokes her in the side, followed by a questioning whine. The kitten rears back, hissing and spitting at the intruding being, making a sad attempt at a swipe at the dog’s face.

 

“You want to see him? I don’t think he likes dogs very much.” Raleigh whines louder, trying to get a closer look at the kitten, who makes a another weak attempt at a swipe at him with his tiny claws.

 

Raleigh’s always been gentle with small things, for his size, but the kitten is entirely too small for Mako to want to chance it. She keeps the tiny thing in her arms, but he yowls when Raleigh takes a few steps too close. She feels bad, but she shoos him away for the moment, trying to get the kitten settled down.

 

Yancy just continues sleeping on the couch, and she sighs, already having resigned herself to a life covered in white dog fur.

 

 

 

 

 

Despite what most people thought, Mako hadn’t named the boys (her boys, she always thought privately). They’d been a gift from her father, a long suffering look on his face as he’d presented her with two yipping balls of fur. They came as a packaged deal, he’d told her, a gift for moving out on her own and to keep her company.

 

It had taken them exactly 33 minutes to make short work of her old comforter, three couch cushions, and a chair that had seen better days (and was now missing one leg). The aggrieved look on her father’s face then, as he looked at the two of them, one now asleep on his back and the other wagging his tail happily, was rather amusing.

 

“You seem like you have something you want to say.” She’d said, a laugh leaving her as the smaller one tugged at her pant leg. As much damage as they’d caused, she’d already found herself irrevocably charmed by them.

 

“They… remind me of two certain cadets.” He’d responded with cryptically, a suddenly stony expression crossing his countenance, before pointing at the sleeping one.

 

“Yancy.” And then he pointed at the smaller one, still happily circling her.

 

“Raleigh.”

 

And she’d never felt the need to change them.

 

 

 

 

They grow big,  _very big_ , to the extent where she doesn’t fully believe believe they’re actually _just_  purebred dogs. She has a conversation with Alison over coffee about it one day, and it’s enough to give her pause, looking at the two of them playing with Alison’s toddler in the living room.

 

“Are you sure they’re actually  _just_  Samoyeds?” Yeye laughs loudly when Raleigh’s wet nose touches his cheek, before giving him a long lick down his little face. Alison’s husband likes to dress him up like a newsie, something Mako both doesn’t really understand nor want to challenge, because it  _is_  rather cute.

 

Idly, Mako wonders if anyone has told Alison yet that 'Yeye' means _grandfather,_ but seeing as her husband is still alive and well, she figures that she doesn't want to burst that bubble just yet.

 

“What else grows big and white like that?” She realizes how odd the question sounds the moment it’s out of her mouth, and thankfully Alison doesn’t go for the predictable joke that it’s begging for.

 

“Well, wolves.” Yeye is sitting on Yancy’s back now, and hugging the big dog like a giant stuffed animal. Yancy, to his credit, doesn’t do anything, though his tail wags lazily while the toddler sitting on him giggles again. Raleigh’s rolled over and is laying on his back, looking at them endearingly with his paws in the air. Alison has already told her a few times how they remind her of two of Tendo’s friends, a pair of brothers that she assures her she’ll meet someday, because  _It’ll be really funny, I promise._

  
“Or not. They’re too doofy to be wolves.” Alison muses, snapping a few pictures with her phone to send to her husband.

 

 

 

 

Yancy might as well be a cat, with how much he sleeps. Mako remembers being worried about it, when he’d transitioned out of his puppy phase and had grown into an adult, that he spent so much of his time sleeping. It had been worrying enough where she’d taken them to the vet, and the only thing the vet had to say was “He just seems to really like sleeping.”

  
(They also get a clean bill of health, and are apparently 100% purebred. Allegedly.)

With the metal plate in his hip, he’d seemingly gotten even lazier, but she wasn’t going to rag on her dog for sleeping so much, because that just seemed silly.

 

Yancy’s interest in the new kitten can be summed up in a single sentence; he’d taken one look at him, made a disinterested snort, and then curled up on the couch and fell asleep. Raleigh, however, made a few attempts before seemingly giving up. Little ginger cat’s (she hadn’t decided on a name yet, so he was ‘little ginger cat’ until further notice) fur would stand on end the moment Raleigh made a move towards him, which Mako figured made sense, seeing as he could be bowled over with a light swat of one of Raleigh’s massive paws.

 

Still, it took several swipes to the nose from an angry kitten before Raleigh let him be, sitting in his corner and looking dejected while the kitten would trot off back to her for a heavy petting session. It would be far more amusing if Raleigh didn’t seem so legitimately put out at not being able to get near him.

 

 

 

 

Something strange begins to happen, however, after a week of the kitten’s exile of Raleigh.

 

The kitten begins seeking out the large white dog.

 

Not in the way Mako would have thought; he darts over and tags one of the Raleigh’s massive legs with his tiny little kitten claws, something the larger animal doesn’t seem to even register. This goes on for several days, enough where Mako thinks the cat is trying to get Raleigh to react.

 

Raleigh, who just sits there patiently while the pint-sized kitten gnaws on his tail, tongue lolling out in amusement. One wag of his fluffy tail is enough to send the tiny cat rolling, and the cycle begins anew, the ginger kitten now personally invested in attacking Raleigh’s tail.

 

 

 

 

Incidentally, Mako isn’t responsible for the kitten’s name either.

 

She ends up sending a video to her father and his boyfriend, of the kitten harassing Raleigh as it pounces on his face and his tail, while the large dog just sits there obediently, not reacting to any of the punishment. Yancy’s barely visible in the back, watching them from far off with a rawhide chew in his jaws.

 

She doesn’t get a response back for half an hour, nearly forgetting until her phone blips. It’s a response from Herc, which isn’t all that surprising. He’s usually more talkative in texts than her father is.

 

_Little tacker’s quite the handful, it seems. You named him yet? -H_

 

She shoots back a quick response, having not yet decided on a name.

 

_He looks like a Chuck, I think. -H_

 

“Chuck.” She says aloud, mulling it over, going over and picking up the kitten and saving Raleigh from more tiny scratches on his snout. The kitten, _Chuck_ , she thinks, makes an upset sound before she scratches at the point behind his ears.

 

Raleigh just continues looking dejected in his corner.

 

Idly, she remembers that Herc’s son’s name is Charlie, but she’s somehow never met him; the stars just seemed to have never aligned, him being away overseas for a while whenever she’d stayed with them.

 

The thought drifts from her head soon enough, Chuck the kitten once again bouncing off her lap and dive bombing Raleigh’s tail.

 

Raleigh whines, Mako smiles a little too indulgently, Chuck mews loudly, and Yancy snores.

 

Just another night with her boys, she thinks.

 

 

 

 

Raleigh, despite thinking he’s an overgrown lapdop, is still very well behaved most of the time. He’s a perfect gentlemen with her neighbor’s children, lets them tug on his ears and tail with nary a whine, listens to commands and doesn’t usually give her much trouble.

 

Keyword being _most of the time_ , because during a sunday walk in the park he suddenly pitches forward with no warning, ripping his leash from her hands and taking off.

 

“Shit-” She doesn’t even have time to think before she takes off after him, because all she can think of is  _don’t let him get out the park, what if he gets hit by a car-_

 

“Raleigh! RALEIGH, GET BACK HERE!” She thinks she might look like a crazy person, a woman chasing after a dog at breakneck speed. She doesn’t even realize she drops Yancy’s leash in her panic, nearly blindsiding a poor guy who looks rather surprised holding a crepe.

 

It’s only after a few seconds of shouting and yelling after her dog that she realizes that the guy she nearly ran over is running next to her, further more, that he’s _keeping up_  with her, a questioning look on his face.

 

“Can I help you?!” She maybe shouts it a little too frantically him, the words coming out jumbled while still trying to keep an eye on Raleigh ahead of her. The guy just gives her another bewildered look, before speaking more sedately while still keeping pace with her.

 

“You were calling my name?” He looks rather concerned, either at her panicked and confused expression or the fact that he’s keeping up with a woman who he doesn’t know, running through the park like two crazy people.

 

 _“What?”_  Maybe they shouldn’t be yelling continuously like this.

 

“You were calling me!” He yells back, and she can only imagine what the look on her face must look like, already overtaken by an  _are you fucking kidding me_. She doesn’t have time to comment back, because they finally catch up to Raleigh, who’s bowled over another poor unsuspecting man and his bulldog, sitting on a blanket.

 

“Raleigh! Bad dog!” She rushes over to pull Raleigh off of the other man, who doesn’t appear to be much older than her. He doesn’t seem too badly ruffled, though he’s got a rather large trail of slobber going down his face that he wipes off with his jacket sleeve. His bulldog, by contrast, seems inordinately pleased with himself, as does Raleigh, who barks happily before turning on Mako and giving her a wide lick as well. She doesn’t notice the other guy’s strange expression when she calls, not seeing the odd look passing between the two men while engrossed with her dog.

 

Her stormy expression and the fact that she’s not responding to Raleigh’s affections, however, seem to be enough to make the dog bow his head sadly, a high pitched whimper escaping his throat. She sighs then, turning to the man her dog accosted. There’s something about him, she thinks idly, that’s terribly familiar, but at the moment she just can’t place it. He’s handsome enough, but not exactly her type.

 

“I’m so sorry,” She bows her head, “He’s usually so well behaved, I didn’t think he’d take off like that.”

 

“Might want to keep a tighter grip on that leash of his,” the guy on the blanket grouses, and her face grows red at that, a retort stilling on the edge of her lips before his words bring another thought to her head.

 

“So…” The taller man starts, conversationally, as if realizing that she might just curse out the other guy “His name is Raleigh?”

 

“Yes.” She says flatly, realizing that might have come across as slightly rude, a cloudy expression crossing her face at the amused look shared between the two men.

 

“That’s too good to be true,” the guy on the blanket snarks, “He even looks like you.” He says, looking at Raleigh the dog again.

 

“I do not look like a dog, Chuck-” This has to be a goddamn joke, she thinks as her head snaps up, somewhat desperately. _Chuck? Seriously?_

 

“Wait a minute, what?” It’s then that Mako remembers why the guy apparently decided to join her on her impromptu maniac jog, and she turns to him.

 

“Your name… is Raleigh.” The guy, Raleigh, grins somewhat sheepishly, scratching the back of his head endearingly.

 

“Kind of a funny coincidence,” He muses, kneeling down and giving Raleigh the dog a pat on his head, who accepts it happily.

 

She just sighs, letting herself drop down into the grass, as if all the energy has suddenly been stolen from her. Raleigh the dog, her Raleigh, comes over to her and nudges her down turned head, an apologetic gesture in dog terms, at least.

 

“This is all so very silly,” She mutters to herself, looking at her dog, “Why can’t you be as well behaved as your brother-” Chuck shoots another amused grin at Raleigh the human, and he just huffs, unamused and crossing his arms.

 

What she says suddenly catches up with her mind, however, and her head shoots up in panic then, Yancy’s name near falling from her lips.

 

“My other dog-” But just then, as if summoned, Yancy trots up to them at a rather sedate pace, his own leash held carefully in his mouth. The relief on her face is near palpable, and as Yancy nears them, he stops short of human Raleigh (this is entirely too strange) and drops his leash unceremoniously onto the grass. The bulldog seems to be having a fit of happiness with all these new faces around, seemingly, while Raleigh the dog just keeps his head down as if ashamed.

 

“Brothers?” She nods.

 

"Wait, let me guess, his name is Yancy." Chuck -  _she still can’t fucking believe this_  - teases, and her face twists into a confused expression.

 

“Yes, but… how did you know? I did not think Raleigh and Yancy were commonly themed names.” The look shared between Chuck and Raleigh is near unbelievable, as if  _they’re_  having a hard time digesting this now. She doesn’t quite understand their disbelief, however.

 

“Well, we know _their_  names now,” Yancy trots over to her and nudges her face, before clambering over her and laying his stupid huge body all over her, effectively trapping her. Her Raleigh takes this as a cue to do much of the same, and she’s suddenly trapped on the grass, covered by her two giant white dogs. The bulldog seems to want to join in on the pile slowly converging on her, and waddles over, nudging her hands.

 

“That’s Max.” Chuck says, suddenly very amused at how quickly she’s amassed an fortress of fur. She throws him a flat, unimpressed look, before giving her own name (which thankfully isn’t Max, but close enough where they still laugh).

 

Chuck the human seems pleased enough at that, though Mako can tell he’s still rather weirded out by the entire thing, before looking up at human Raleigh.

 

“Oi, where’d the crepes go?” Raleigh the human suddenly looks rather abashed, turning his head away when they both realize he’s empty handed. Her own face suddenly heats up then, remembering that she'd nearly knocked him over at the start of her run.

 

Mako feels a _little_  bad about that, and buys them crepes as a replacement.

 

——

 

“The strangest thing happened today,” She starts, on speakerphone with Stacker later that night.

 

 _“Oh?”_  In the background she can hear Herc puttering around, and she imagines that they’re probably scrambling to get some low key wedding plans put together.  _Men,_  she thinks in amusement, _Thinking I wouldn’t notice the matching rings._

 

She figures she won’t give them too much hell for it when they do eventually tell her, probably at the family dinner they’d planned for that coming week, giving her the chance to finally meet Herc’s son.

 

“I met these two men in the park,” She flops down on the couch, somewhat gracelessly; Yancy whines at being usurped out of his usual spot, before cutting his losses and just lying directly across her legs. “Raleigh broke loose during our run and toppled one of them over.”

 

 _“Meeting_ two _men in the park? I don’t think I raised you that way.”_   He teases over the phone, and she makes a dismissive sound, though there’s a small smile on her face.

 

“They were normal, I suppose. It was their names I had a hard time believing.” In the back, she hears a lull in Herc’s stumbling around, and wonders if he’s also probably listening in.

 

_“And they were?”_

 

“Well, one was named Raleigh… And the one that Raleigh, my Raleigh, knocked down was Chuck.” There’s dead silence on the other line, and she’s wondering why that would be so; the coincidence is somewhat hard to swallow, but she doesn’t think it’s so unbelievable that-

 

And then there’s laughter, absolutely racous laughter on the other end. Mostly Herc, but she can hear Stacker’s throaty chuckles as well. After nearly  _20 seconds_  of it, Herc’s voice comes through the line, and she can practically see him wiping the tears off of his face.

 

 _“This Chuck, was he, ah, ginger and perpetually angry looking?”_  She almost nods, before realizing that they can’t see her, and makes a sound of assent. Herc’s chuckles, followed by a far away sounding  _“That would be him, alright.”_  leave her even more confused.

 

 _“Talk about random happenstance,”_  he says, sounding far too amused. He doesn’t say much else on the matter, aside from the two of them bidding her good night and _we’re looking forward to see you on Saturday, love._

 

It’s not until the following week, at the family dinner, that Mako realizes just why they’d found it so funny.

 

 

 

 

 _Chuck,_  she thinks weakly, the guy that her damn dog bowled over sitting across from her at the table, _his name is Chuck, not Charlie_. Chuck seems equally lost in his disbelief as she is, and his eyes nearly bug out of his skull when Herc calmly asks how  _Chuck the kitten_  is doing.

 

“You did that on purpose.” She says with no bite, because there is no way that - while Herc suggesting his son’s own name as a name for her cat is not completely off the wall - the human counterparts to her animals being  _boyfriends_  is pure coincidence. Or her dogs human counterparts being brothers, but that’s besides the point.

 

“No idea what you’re talking about, love.” And Herc just smiles while Chuck sputters angrily at his father,  _I can’t believe you told her to name her kitten after me!_  Stacker hides his grin behind his napkin, and Mako just sighs, but even she can’t hide the small smile blooming on her lips.

 

Family, she thinks fondly and only slightly exasperated.

 

**Author's Note:**

> JUST AS A NOTE THIS IS TOTALLY NOT THE END OF THIS SERIES, BECAUSE I LIKE HAVING SOMETHING SCHMOOPY TO GO BACK TO when I'm not writing horrible angsts fests, whoops.


End file.
